Useful tips

[The proviso that should have come at the start, but which I knew would defnintely not be adhered to] I am sharing my views: this involves drawing on my experience teaching senior level students (16-18 years old) and conducting some basic research into rapport management. I would encourage you to use some of the presented sources to investigate for yourself. Secondly, it is very practical to generalise but please bear in mind that we are human. Though certain peoples within certain cultures have a tendency to behave in a certain way, we shouldn’t really make blanket statements- especially where 1.5 billion people are concerned!

References:

Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 4th Edition.

Spencer-Oatey, H. 2000. Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. Continuum: London.

Other useful sources of information:
British Council EFL Teacher Manual.
Cook, V. Second Language Learning and-Language Teaching.
Cowan, R. The Teacher’s Grammar of English

By Daniel Legere, long-term teacher in Yueqing since September 2012

Being a Foreigner

By Frances Upton

One of the strangest things about moving to China is that out of the blue and without realising it, you have now become ‘the foreigner’. Almost daily we use the term ‘foreigner’ to put a name to the increasing presence of ‘other’ in our societies, particularly in the UK. But now, I’m not even sure I understand it at all. Who decides what’s foreign when people are moving around and exploring so much? In China, you can hear children and old women whispering ‘lǎo wài’ as you walk past, in Malawi, people will point and shout ‘mzungu’ at any white face they see. And despite always been on the fringes; mixed race, half and half; I’ve never really felt so much like a foreigner until now.

What got me thinking about all this was reading on BBC news about the attack on a soldier in Woolwich and reading the outraged response, particularly on social networks. People were throwing around the term ‘them’ and ‘they’, clearly referring to all Muslims, or all immigrants; ‘foreigners.’ I read a Facebook status which said something along the lines of ‘they come over here, take our jobs, use the NHS…’ an almost comical, clichéd attitude I’d always thought had been buried a long long time ago. It just made me think, two individual people do something horrific and unforgiveable, and then suddenly their whole race or their whole religion are all ungrateful, unwanted ‘terrorists’. They’re all ‘foreigners’ that have no business, no right to be in our country. It’s completely ridiculous. Two people did something horrific, and suddenly all foreigners are the enemy.

Right now, here in China, we’re the foreigners. Americans, British, Canadians, Russians: Foreigners. And I honestly can’t imagine anyone I’ve met so far in this beautiful country, which I’m almost beginning to see as a kind of temporary adopted home, being so unwelcoming and, well, cruel. Mostly, from what I’ve experienced so far, they love us ‘lǎo wài’. They smile and say ‘nǐ hǎo’ (hello), they try to speak to you in as much English as they can, and they’re always so helpful. We’ve made so many lovely Chinese friends over here who honestly don’t mind you calling them in the morning to ask them to speak to your building manager because there’s no water in your apartment, or taking you to the other side of the city late at night to pick up the extra key from your landlady because you’ve stupidly forgotten yours inside, or booking your train tickets for you because you can’t speak Chinese. It actually makes me pretty sad to think that back in the UK, if a foreigner can’t speak English, we’ll grumble and tut and think they have no business being in ‘our country’.

Above: Frances at Wuchang Riverside Park in Wuhan

I came here not able to say a single sentence in Chinese (although every day I am learning). But the Chinese value education, and because cultural exchange in this day and age is education, they value us too. Simply because our reason for being here is to teach them our language and to learn more about China and their culture, and in turn they can learn about ours. People here even seem to like the fact that I’m “mixed blood” because to have two races, two sets of roots is something to be proud of here. It makes you modern, it makes you worldly. It’s a source of pride.

It’s a lovely thing to feel so welcome, so wanted and valued. Sometimes it can get a little too much when you’re having a bad day and you want to just tip-toe through the crowds unnoticed (luckily for me, sunglasses seem to help me blend in a little better on days like those!). At work especially, all of the parents of the kids we teach want to see the ‘foreign teachers’, but once again its just pride rather than anything sinister. Having ‘real foreigners’ teaching at an English Language Centre makes it all the more credible and genuine.

Yesterday, Alex and I went to the famous Guiyuan Temple in Hanyang, snapping away like tourists and hanging out with the tortoises in the courtyard pond when this group of teenage Chinese girls approached us. They, along with their very embarrassed mother asked to take numerous photos with us. Who knows what they could possibly want or need with ten pictures of two very sweaty looking foreigners, but it happens all the time. Our American friend David went to the hospital a few weeks back for a chest infection and spent the afternoon being fawned over by several young Chinese nurses. If that wasn’t good enough, in the end he got his entire treatment for free because they asked him to model for some pictures for a hospital advertisement.
You get used to it, being a foreigner. But I can’t imagine what it’d feel like if, say a man from the US did something terrible over here and then suddenly everyone here turned on me too and wanted me to ‘go back to where I came from’.

I’m not saying there isn’t racism or anything like that in China, but in my experience, the greatest thing about being here is feeling so welcome. I really do think it’s something the rest of the world could learn from China. Although everywhere you go you will be stared at and sometimes it may even feel like you’re being judged in a negative way, I honestly do believe that over here they’re just curious. They want to know who you are and what brings you to their corner of the world.

The term ‘foreigner’ shouldn’t be used in such a negative way, because at the end of the day if everyone stayed in their own ‘designated area’, their own comfort zones, we’d all live in a very colourless and silent world. Each and every one of us is capable of good and bad, regardless of whether we’re ‘foreign’ or ‘not’.

By Frances Upton

China: As a foreigner, how are you treated? By Vijesh Parmar

I have been living in Wuhan, an up and coming city in Central Eastern China for the previous six months, working as an English Teacher at Wuhan Donghu University . One question, that I am frequently asked is “Ni lai zi na li?”, which translates to “Where are you from?”

I’m almost certain that this question is a lot less frequent in the bigger cities of Shanghai and Beijing, since the foreigner population of those two cities far exceeds that of Wuhan. One thing that is certain, is that the Chinese, in my experience at least have a natural fondness for foreigners and an element of loquaciousness, a willingness to ask questions, about anything and everything relating to your country. For myself after a little while I knew which questions were going to be asked. The more common ones such as “Where are you from? Are you accustomed to China? Do you like Chinese food?”, to the less frequent ones such as “Do you have Falun Gong in your country?”(Falun Gong is a banned activity in China, for political reasons).

The natural curiosity of the Chinese offers many benefits for the foreigner, depending on your overall attitude to the whole experience. If you are willing to learn Mandarin, these questions will open up a great deal of conversation for you, I have immeasurably improved my Mandarin through conversations with people that have begun with the aforementioned question. These questions will serve up as conversation starters, which will allow you to develop your Mandarin, if you are so inclined.
However, on the other hand, the curiosity of the people can become somewhat tedious. If you are always asked this question, it will become predictable and somewhat tiresome. Though turning it into a positive, the fact that is predictable allows you to have some thought out answers that will lead to more conversation. Every conversation is an opportunity.
Being a foreigner, it is sometimes difficult to escape the limelight out here in B-City China (Wuhan is considered one of the future cities of China). Everywhere I went for the first five months, I was followed with photo requests, or more frequently sneaky photos where the photographer intended to remain unnoticed.
Girls will giggle and point, a lot of the time. They will also tell you how handsome you are. Boys are a lot more open in my experience than their female counterpart, they are a lot more willing to start conversations with you, in English or otherwise.
The fact that you are a foreigner is something of a walking talking advertisement. When I say this I mean to say that being in China as a foreigner requires you to be comfortable about being approached for photographs and conversations and language practice. While sometimes this goes unappreciated by myself, predominantly situations like this always make me smile.
As a whole, the Chinese people are very helpful towards foreigners; they will accommodate your bad Mandarin and will always complement and encourage you. The Chinese attitude to foreigners is mostly friendly, and greeted with curiosity and warmth. I have never experienced any animosity, in fact truth be told, I have received more freebies and hospitality than I have ever expected.

Interacting with Locals
This is rather dependant on how keen you are to get involved. In Wuhan, where I live, there are not an excessive amount of foreigners and so because they are thin on the ground, locals are rather keen to have a chat.
As a whole, if you are willing to interact then there are a lot of opportunities. The most common opportunities which have presented themselves in my case at least have been with the youth that frequent bars. The new generation of youth that are keen to be socially active, enjoy interacting with foreigners whenever the opportunity presents itself. In fact, I have made some great friends as a result of the people that have I have interacted with as a result of meeting them in bars and cafes for example.
Aside from nights out and conversations at bars and cafes, there are many other options that allow interaction with locals. One of the best opportunities that I have had access to, is the students that I teach. The benefit of teaching students at a University is that they have a decent grasp of the English language and hot to use it to express opinions and formulate questions, where in other circumstances this may not be the case.
I have used the exposure with these students, to understand key facets on Chinese culture, some which otherwise as foreigners we may not be aware of. Some of the topics that I have explored with these students, many of whom are locals, include the One Child Policy, Chinese politics, environmental concerns and food safety. All of these are prominent issues, internationally and domestically and getting the opportunity to talk to these students and other colleagues about these issues provide a great insight into the mentality of the Chinese.
Furthermore, once you are confident enough, interacting with the taxi drivers provides an alternative view of China. I have had many conversations with taxi drivers that informed me in ways that I would never have expected to have been broached, of which some can not be mentioned here. The breadth and depth of the topics covered in conversation while in transit have surprised and intrigued me. As an aside, other modes of transportation also give the opportunity to interact with locals. Once they realise you are a foreigner who has some grasp of Chinese, the questions and the photos will continue endlessly. Your approach to this, depends on your will.

Learning the Language
There is no way around it, the language is hard. Telling you otherwise would be unfair and would probably be a misrepresentation. Learning the language, requires some real hard work on your part. During my time here, I have had a couple of lessons, these have been very useful. I have also worked very hard on improving my Mandarin, through some of the outlets explained above. Using a dictionary and the internet will help you no end. The level of your success in learning the language will depend on how much effort you put into the language. I know some people who have studied for 2 years, some for 7 months, and regardless of how much Mandarin is learnt it is clear that learning the language offers great social benefits, particularly on nights out.

Chinese Nightlife
Chinese nightlife is a bit of a mixed bag. Some venues offer a moderate selection of up to date pop music, while others are not so up to date with the latest trends. Generally it surprises me how frequently it can be noticed that the Chinese cannot handle their drink. On various occasions, people passing about before midnight hour has been seen.
One of the most common reasons for this, is the culture of saving face and extravagance. Chinese men have to be seen buying bottles for the table, to be seen as rich. As a result, the extravagance of purchasing these bottles never ends well.
When a Chinese person notices a foreigner in a bar, it is common that they will approach and attempt a conversation in English or in Mandarin as the case may be. Following the necessary introductions they will introduce you to their friends who will be nothing but accommodating and friendly, remember foreigners are rarer here, and they are also seen as a status symbol. Knowing a foreigner is seen as cool. It is also common for them to ply you with drinks and cigarettes. All in the most innocent and friendly of manners.

Colleagues and Students
As I briefly mentioned before, interacting with the students for me is a fantastic chance to gain insight into Chinese culture, particularly since they have a good grasp of the English language. I have learned a great deal from my students about China. As part of my role in China, I have been assigned a language colleague who helps me with University interactions and getting involved within the University. These colleagues have helped me, however given how busy we all are, the level of interaction with colleagues is smaller than compared with students. Students also allow you to understand the new, young, developing face of China. The future of China, as Yang Lan calls it.

What do they know about the West?
As a whole, it is surprising how little they know about the west and generally the world outside of China. I teach grown adults, and their knowledge of the world, is surprisingly limited. I remember how much it shocked me at the time, but given that I should provide an example now, it is a bit difficult to think of anything more than identifying the key people in UK and US Politics (Obama , Cameron , Blair and Romney). Getting them to be enthused about perhaps more difficult topics, the topics that they do not normally talk about, is difficult and can be testing at times. Though I consider informing them about the West as part of my role given that they have limited exposure to foreigners. They may be naïve or innocent, but this is where we come in, I think.

Conclusion
Teaching English in China, is one of the best experiences I have ever had. It has provided me with a enormous learning curve and provided flesh on the bones of my knowledge about arguably the most powerful country in the world. Teaching in China will teach you , and it highly rewarding, problems aside that is .

By Vijesh Parmar

Why China? – By Hayley Dye (Teaching in Wuhan Jan 2013 – Present)

The idea of higher education and ‘higher experiences’ is always something that has
tickled me. This was not a career driven choice for me, and I didn’t have parameters
in my mind for life afterwards. And still today, I call life ‘an experiment’.
Post university, I did some travelling to the States, found local jobs and took as much
out of these experiences as possible; cultural understanding and self discipline. But I
still felt an itching for adventure, this time coupled with responsibility and the desire
to do something that made a difference to people’s lives. A good friend of mine came
to Wuhan some years ago and told me fantastic things. So it was time to turn
curiosity into experiment; so to answer ‘Why China?’ for me it was ‘Why not China?’.
When doing something deemed ‘big’ or ‘scary’, people often think of the
things they are sacrificing; time with their loved ones, and all the comforts of their
everyday life. For most of my first month when people asked if I like China or if I’m
happy here, all I could really say was ‘I don’t know yet’. But as I’m settling into a new
routine, I am getting used to it and learning to love it. This is my first teaching job,
and I had no idea what to expect. The most important thing in my class is that my
kids are engaged and having fun. So right from day one smiles, encouragement, and
goofiness have gone a long way. There is not much pressure of what to teach, you
may or may not have a syllabus to work from. It’s taken a few weeks to get into the
swing of things, to gage how much the kids can take in at one time and for me to
leave my ‘academic’ mind out of the classroom. I get time with the kids in the
morning and afternoon when I’m not ‘being teacher’ and I play and can talk to them
one on one, which is really rewarding. Not only mixing with the kids, but the other
teachers, takes a while. Granted you get paid a lot more for a fraction of the work
they do, and this is their classroom etc so making a good impression and always being
friendly here is a must for me. Be prepared, as a symbol of the parents and schools
financial status, so you’ll get photographed a lot. I was surprised at being asked to
speak on a microphone to the entire school on day three!
Balance is important, so to be the best teacher you need to take time for
yourself, to escape a little and relax and step outside the hustle and bustle. A friend
of mine likes to go to the gym in his lunch break, but for me, I like to wander up to
the park with a book when the weather allows.
There are many Westerners in China, teaching, new to China and accustomed to it
here, so meeting people and sharing thoughts, feelings, experiences of China is really
good. It’s good to get a support network of buddies to hang out with and to natter to
when you need a pick up.

TIPS AND THOUGHTS ON SUMMER TEACHING IN CHINA
by ARIELLE BEAN (summer teacher in Shaoxing in the summer of 2012)

As posted in Owl Eyes Magazine, 24th of April 2013: http://www.owleyesmagazine.com/wanderer/tips-and-thoughts-summer-teaching-china

I’m the type of person who exhaustively researches a place before arrival, both out of curiosity and a need to at least create a sense of preparation. Unsurprisingly, not all of this information proves useful during the actual trip. That said, where employment and travel mix, it’s better to be over prepared.

Here are some thoughts from my summer teaching internship in Shaoxing, China.

Before Your Trip

Avoid Being Lost and Homeless
Well, this was sorted out neatly for me as I went through a program called Teach English In China. They helped with visas, airport transportation, and accommodation. I normally like to travel independently but having these technicalities taken care of was invaluable and meant that I could focus on teaching and enjoying China.

Having spoken to teachers who opted out of a program I think having accommodation sorted beforehand was key – it cut out problems with unreturned deposits, many repair miscommunications, and cockroach infestations.

Clothing
Definitely ask if you have to wear a uniform before you go. All of my work appropriate summer dresses that gather dust in Scotland were less useful than expected after I found out I had to wear a company polo shirt to work everyday.

Money
This depends slightly on when you’re paid (and if you’re not going through a program, I recommend getting your payment plan in writing). Our pay came at the end so we needed funds for the whole trip. On average I spent, £8 a day. Day trips usually cost me £20-30.

Completely Random Item I Wish I’d Brought
A small gym towel. While I don’t feel right complaining about the heat after Scotland, just stepping outside will make you start panting and sweating.

Laundry
All of our washing was done by hand. It might be worthwhile to pack a few hangers before you go for drying out clothing. This is particularly helpful if you’re in a hotel – we didn’t have wardrobes so there weren’t any in the room.

Scams
The Shanghai Tea Scam was still in full swing last summer. The first group of people I encountered in Shanghai tried to coerce me into coming with them for an ‘authentic Chinese tea experience’. This was the only time in China I felt like I was in a scam situation but do watch out for it.

During Your Trip

Keep Age a Mystery
We were told not to give our age (or if asked say we were 25ish), which turned out to be helpful advice. Many of the advanced students were only 1-2 years younger than us and while the student-teacher dynamic was more relaxed than I expected, it was better to keep age a mystery to maintain some form of ‘teacher status’.

Restaurants
Eating out in large groups was often the cheapest way to go. It was also necessary at restaurants that had ‘Lazy Susans’ on their tables as portions were meant for sharing and all sides had to be ordered separately.

Although there are tons of picture menus (thanks Chinese food god!), ordering required a lot of ‘charading’. The Lonely Planet phrasebook came in handy and was a much better investment than the guidebook (my mom lovingly refers to these as the Loser Planet books after it led us to the red light district in Hong Kong).


Transport
Get a business card for your hotel (if applicable) and school. After we finally found our school amongst some nondescript skyscrapers, we acquired cards to show future taxi drivers.

Always bring your passport to the train station (including pre-booking tickets) and recruit someone to write down your desired destination in Chinese – the time to practice Chinese is not when fifty people are in line behind you trying to catch the same train.

Embrace Your Karaoke Goddess
Never have I ever sung Backstreet Boys in a karaoke bar sober AND in front of people – until China. KTV bars are dotted around cities and were very popular with our students. I had a blast considering I have no singing talent and thankfully I don’t think there is recorded evidence.

It’s also a chance to show your students that you’re willing to step outside of your comfort zone (and that’s essentially what we ask from them in every class).

The Stare and Snap
A fellow teacher and I both separately encountered ladies who carried photo albums stuffed with pictures of themselves with foreigners and asked if we would join their collection. Most people don’t ask before they snap photos of you but it’s definitely harmless.

Phones in Class
I’m not sure I could ask a student to stop using their phone without being a complete hypocrite but usually the students are using it for translating words they don’t understand rather than other popular alternatives.

Things I Still Can’t Quite Figure Out
1. I can’t even count the number of times I got in a taxi and they kicked me out after hearing my desired destination.
2. What is the purpose of having the ‘little green man’? At best, it provides a loose guideline for cars not to clobber pedestrians but it mostly acts as an unacknowledged street decoration.

This is the tiniest snapshot of one of my best summers. Even with a previous summer of teaching experience, an outgoing demeanour and ‘go with the flow’ attitude proved to be much more important during the trip. If you’re looking for a change after a year in the bubble, I highly recommend looking into teaching in China.

Also, if you have any questions about upcoming internships in China or are looking to apply for jobs feel free to send me an email: ab225@st-andrews.ac.uk

Arielle Bean

Reflections on my first week

Hey all. I decided to make the move to China in August 2012. After swiftly joining TEIC’s program, I pursued a zig-zag path which has somehow ended with me getting an amazing job, in an amazing place. Having said this I probably caused some profound headaches along the way (…scrap the probably, I definitely had a few).

I’m situated in a developed province in the South East called Zhejiang. My city is nestled in a mountainous region on the periphery of Wenzhou. We have been blessed with a premature Spring and blue skies (one of many reasons why I’m glad I didn’t get a job in a smoggy tier 1 city). I will try to help prospective participants by sharing some thoughts from my first week.

Picture above: Lantern festival in Hangzhou

Preparing to Teach:
China presents many opportunities for those looking to teach English. The country is massive, the demand is seemingly insatiable, and as a result, the barriers to entry are fairly low. In some cases, spoken English classes are simply a formality, a box-checking exercise to meet the requirements of local authorities. You don’t even need a specialist teaching qualification or TEFL in many cases.

Given these points, it isn’t too much of a challenge to find employment as a teacher. But if you have a genuine desire to better the lives of others by providing a good program of study, you should invest in equipping yourself with an appropriate level of knowledge. Being able to speak English doesn’t equate to being able to teach it. Here are some of the key books I studied to prepare myself:

British Council EFL Teacher Manual.
Cook, V. Second Language Learning and-Language Teaching.
Cowan, R. The Teacher’s Grammar of English
Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching 4th Edition
* I also ended up doing a 40 hour TEFL.

Mandarin:
There was no requirement to learn Mandarin. Nevertheless, having finished my MA I had a lot of spare time and spent about four months teaching myself (my Chinese friends also helped- make Chinese friends before your leave!). This was such a great investment. With my cherokee Chinese I have been able to:
-Befriend other teachers (or at least have awkward conversations which otherwise would never have taken place).
-Travel around town.
-Get food on my plate (what, I’ll never know)
-Join a gym.
-Buy shoes and barter for stuff (can also be accomplished by raising an eyebrown and humming).
-Cause classes of students to burst with laughter (for better or worse).

Basically, being in a small city with very few (I haven’t seen any) foreigners requires a knowledge of Mandarin, unless you’re happy to live without a social life.
Use this site to make Chinese friends for free: www.italki.com
It’s great.

First Week:
Once the adrenalin from a solid 2 days of travelling and several days of sensory confusion begins to wear off, you’ll usually be expected to get going with classes. Starting in February is tricky because it’s halfway through the academic year, which means you’re picking up the slack from another teacher.

I started on a Friday and decided to use this day as a test/trial run. Not only did this mean that starting Monday all students would be at the same level, but this gave me an opportunity to learn about my old teacher. I literally did a mind-map asking students to share with me what they studied. This way I could avoid teaching the same stuff twice. Well…they didn’t really remember anything.

The biggest challenges for the first week are probably:
1-Establishing some kind of order in what are likely to be large (40+) classes.
2-Learning names (I have 800 students!)
3-Building rapport with students.

1-Think about taking a register. With a class of 40 this could literally take up half the lesson time. You need to read up on how to manage the logistics of large classes, how to establish classroom etiquette/rules (for misconduct) and how to manage simple repetitive tasks (like getting into pairs/groups, registers, how to handle questions).
2-I teach teenagers. We’ve all been there. As a teenager you (or at least I) thought I was the centre of the world. Teenagers have a strong sense of identity, and this begins with the name. If you can get their names and pronounce them in pinyin, you will be able to build meaningful relationships with your students, and maintain control. Saying ‘you, oy, excuse me’ to get the attention of a student in the long-run isn’t ideal (I think). What did I do? I got the students to write their names in pinyin and create English names in class. Simple solution. The context was students were invited to study abroad, and needed to help the English teacher as he couldn’t pronounce their names (a real-life scenario).
3- I don’t have an answer for this one. I’m quite young, so perhaps that helps when it comes to getting students on my side. I proactively avoid the authoritarian dominant teacher persona. You want students to feel relaxed around you. If they’re afraid they’ll lock-up and remain silent.

I could go on…in conclusion I’m very content and feel blessed to be where I am. TEIC provided a great service and didn’t leave me hanging when things didn’t work out. I didn’t receive any calls at 2am either, which may happen if you deal directly with Chinese agents. Things will go wrong, unexpected opportunities will present themselves. There will probably be some kind of paperwork issue. You will get lost. People will stare and ask for photos (get their qq and make some friends!) You will get invited for dinner and put terrible things in your mouth. All part of the fun. My best piece of advice would be to use www.italki.com to make friends in advance of arriving. Worst case scenario you’ll learn lots about the local culture. Best case scenario you’ll have somewhere to stay and someone to turn to if things go wrong along the way.

By Daniel Legere

NIGHTLIFE IN CHINA

When I went to work in China in 2002 I assumed that nightlife would be very different than what I was used to.
Working in Wuhan, I found that to my surprise was not really the case, as there were a number of bars and restaurants there run by expats.

On my first night in Wuhan one of the teachers at the school I worked at took me for dinner and drink at a place called the Blue Sky.

In the weeks and months that followed I went back there quite a lot. I felt a bit bad about this at first, because I’d obviously come to China to get immersed in everyday life in China and meet local people. But I felt that every now and then it was good to go to a place where I could meet other Westerners, drink pints and speak English and not face a language barrier.

The Blue Sky attracted a lot of expats working as English teachers and industry (mostly from France and Germany working in the car industry in Wuhan), as well as Chinese people who spoke English or wanted to learn more English.

When I was back in Wuhan last month to visit some of the schools TEIC work with I wanted to go back to the Blue Sky, but unfortunately it was closed for Spring Festival.

I was however taken to some other bars by David and Thomas who work at EF in Wuhan.

We went to Brussels (picture below) and Helens.

Brussels is the ideal place to watch football if you’re interested in that, as they show live premiership games.
They also have a selection of Belgian beers.

Helens was bigger and less orientated to expats, although I was told the branch in Wuchang (another part of Wuhan) caters more to expats as it’s close to the university with a lot of exchange students.

To read more about nightlife in China read the city guides written by former teachers: http://teach-english-in-china.co.uk/?page_id=25

By Arnold Vis

TRAVEL COSTS IN CHINA

In Chinese cities buses are the cheapest mode of transport, and if available, the tube.

Bus and Tube fares are around 2RMB for a single journey (only 20p!).

Below some pictures of the recently opened Tube in Wuhan.

Using the tube is easy, as English as well as Mandarin is used throughout.

Taxis are another form of transport within cities; there’s lots of them and they will take you anywhere in even big cities for under 50RMB (£5).

In general taxi drivers don’ t speak any English, so if you don’ t speak Mandarin you would need to take a note to give to the driver from your school or the hotel saying where you are going

For transport between cities you can take the train or fly.

Overnight trains have two different categories: hardsleeper and softsleeper.

The difference are the compartments: in softsleeper you have a more comfortable bed in a private or 4 person compartment; hardsleeper compartments are for 6 people.

Prices–Wuhan-Shanghai travel: about 200 RMB for hardsleeper (£20), about 300 RMB for softsleeper (£30).

Finally, flights: Single flights from Shanghai to Wuhan are between 400-600 RMB (£40-£60)

They can be booked on ctrip, a site with a good English website: http://english.ctrip.com/chinaflights/shanghai-to-wuhan/tickets-sha-wuh/

Arnold Vis

Traveling around China : Myth Busters From TEIC quarterly newsletter
winter 2012

One of the main reasons for me going to teach in China was my desire to see the
country, ever corner of it. Before I went I had multiple guide books with dog eared
pages and sticky notes and they were my bibles for the year ahead. There are many
rumours about transport in China and I thought it would be good to iron those out.
Within the cities, despite what many people say, buses are very easy to use and no
matter how much you earn spending 12p on a bus is always better than £5 on a taxi.
Bus cards are bought from a local supermarket (pronounced Jun-By) and the routes
are fairly easy to follow after a few trial and error runs. I highly recommend the buses
in Wuhan, they became guide books as I would always see things en-route to
somewhere and would dog ear them for a rainy day.
I had heard awful things about the trains in China, that there are no doors, no privacy,
no western toilets and no peace and quiet- this was all true. There for 4 ways of train
travel: a hard seat (exactly what it says on the tin, don’t go there unless you’re
desperate) a soft seat (slightly more luxurious but 24hour lighting isn’t great for long
night time journeys) a hard sleeper (a cabin of 6 beds with quilts, depending on the
age of the train most have doors on the cabin but you don’t have control of the light
switch) and soft sleepers (a cabin of 4, with a door and your own light switch). The
trains are, honestly, not that bad and very convenient. The soft sleepers are nice and
cozy – especially if there is 4 of you traveling that could be together. The toilets do get
a tad untouchable towards the end of journeys, but being out and about in China you
often learn to hold it. But simply, I can’t knock the trains- they are a nice mattress for
the night, there is always boiling water for some midnight noodles and taps to clean
your teeth- what more could you want? They might be a bit too close for comfort for
some people if traveling with strangers isn’t your idea of a good time, but you must
try them once and I guarantee you’ll have more problems getting the ticket then
being on the train.
Tickets must be bought 9 days before travel. Despite what many people say the only
way to buy train tickets is in local booths, I don’t recommend booking anything online
before you go, as this just isn’t how the Chinese do it. Train times online are not what
they are in store and websites don’t show you every train available. You need to turn
up 8am on the day your ticket is first available to buy with the town you want to go to
written down and they will do the rest. In the big stations they have English speaking
windows for us ‘laowi’ to buy our tickets from. Although, my students loved buying
my tickets with me!

By Emma Toll

Safe and Happy travels! – If you’ve done a journey across China and want to tell your
story email me: emma_toll@hotmail.co.uk

FAQ: If my application is successful, do I choose my location, or do teach English in China?

Successful applicants get to state a preference in terms of the the city/location they’d like to work in.

Our placements are mostly in larger cities in China like Wuhan, Shaoxing, Xuzhou and Dongguan. We do also have a few placements available in more rural areas for those interested in that.

Where you are placed depends on a number of factors, like demand of the schools, time of application and whether or not you are applying together with a friend.

We will do our best to accommodate your first choice, but we cannot guarantee you work in a specific city before enrolling.

For information about the type of cities our teachers have worked in over the years, visit the “travel and city guides” section.

My Favorite food in China

When I talk to people who are considering to go to teach English in China they usually curious what the food is like in China. When I was working in China I used to to really enjoy going out for meals, because it was so different to what I was used to. First of all almost everyone eats out in China because it’s much cheaper than in Western countries. In most local diners and small restaurants you can have a full lunch for about £1.5-£2.5 and a dinner for about £4. It’s also very different because you have your own bowl of rice, but share the other dishes with the rest of the people you are eating with. Usually that means that when you go out with five people you would order about 7 dishes for all to share, so you have a bit of everything.

At my school I would go for lunch and dinner with a few of my colleagues who were also foreigners in China, together with either some of the older students and some of the Chinese teaching assistants. That worked out well because in most local restaurants staff speak very little English. On the occasions there were no Mandarin speakers present we would manage though, as soon learn the names of your favourite dishes.

Speaking of that, these are some of dishes I ate very regularly in China, In English and pinyin (Chinese characters in western script)

Dumplings: Jiǎozi

Tomato and eggs: fānqié chǎo dàn

Kung Pao Chicken: Gōngbǎo Jīdīng

Cabbage: chǎo bái cài

Eggplant: qié​zi

By Arnold Vis

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.

Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about his the use of music in the classroom.

MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM
Karaoke. The word strikes fear into my heart and already I feel the sensation of embarrassment rising within me as I picture the awkward moment of singing in front of strangers, a past time generally reserved for the drunk or crazed back home and not the usual start to a Friday night.
I was being taken to a KTV bar- a Karaoke bar- and I was neither drunk nor crazed but perfectly sober and dreading the moment I would have to undoubtedly sing in front of an audience of judgemental karaoke goers; forced on stage by unrelenting Chinese pressure to see the foreign teacher sing.
I was certainly out of my depth, introvert in my Western shell. Karaoke certainly hadn’t been on my to do list in China, not alongside walking the Great Wall or enjoying the cuisine, but karaoke is as much a past time here as anything. Karaoke is big and I guess I had to experience it.
The KTV bar was full and people were singing through microphones as the music videos and lyrics were projected onto a big screen. People were raucously singing along and thankfully no one was judging the horrible wailings of the Titanic theme tune too harshly. It was surreal- as Chinese melodies and Asian pop songs were sung along to and interspersed with the cheesiest of pop songs from the West. When it came to it, all my fellow teachers took the mics and we sang along, awkwardly, to a randomly selected English song, to loud and vibrant cheers and applause. The bar loved it and I soon found myself bizarrely enjoying the karaoke custom, as much as I dreaded singing.
In the classroom after the weekend, I decided to give a cultural lesson on music. I wondered how to approach it. I didn’t want to just play music or have a karaoke class; I didn’t really want to sing either for that matter, karaoke after a few beers was one thing, but singing to the students would be ridiculous and it was something they had been pestering me to do for days. I decided to introduce a few songs, perhaps explain the lyrics and to see what songs the students knew already.
Of course, everyone was a Justin Bieber fan and the class began singing along almost perfectly to the song ‘Baby’. If there’s one thing to love about teaching in China, it’s the fact that no day is the same and you’ll always find yourself in unexpected situations, casually humming along to pop songs while your students have the time of their life singing.
The students it turned out, had already had the idea of learning English by listening to music. I was surprised by the number of songs they knew and they loved it as I explained what some of the lyrics to songs meant or introduced them to new music.
The karaoke tradition continued in the classroom. Students would ask permission to sing a song to the rest of the class and would stand up and sing either a lovely Chinese song and then explain in English to me the meaning of the lyrics or they would stand and sing a song in English that they’d learnt. ‘Country Roads’ was a favourite while one student even insisted on showing me his Michael Jackson moonwalk. The beauty of the class was that I hadn’t even envisaged a lesson like this, the students had taken it upon themselves to ask me for permission to sing. Compared to the usual shyness of the students during lesson time, when they sang they were full of confidence, a confidence they didn’t have when they were asked to talk to a native speaker in English. I’d found a way to get the students to express the animation they usually suppressed.
The lessons were a great cultural exchange. The students learnt new songs, new words, new expressions and found new confidence, while they introduced me to Chinese music, to pop stars like Jay Zhou and to traditional Chinese songs that they sung with pride.
Music can be a fantastic way to teach English. It opens up the classroom and gets the students up and excited to learn, just so long as you ensure actual learning accompanies it, it’s a great way to pass on culture to students and importantly to give them confidence to learn and speak the language.

RICHARD COLLETT

First lesson in China–teaching at a Middle School

Children studying English in China often adopt an English name to use in lessons, thank god as there isn’t a single Chinese name that I have heard and can still remember so far! Sometimes the children pick their own names or a word that reflects or sounds similar to their Chinese name and sometimes their foreign teacher will choose them, as far as I can tell, because they are hilarious. Some of my favorite names in my class include Aristotle, Lady Wei Wei, Power Axe, Mr Darcy, Maraschino, Beryl and Absolutely. I also have a few Dragons, Candys, Chrystals and a Smile. One of the other foreign teachers here told me that she used to have a kid called Vampire Killer, just brilliant.
My first lesson with each class I introduced myself, talked a bit about my life in England and invited any questions from the kids. I got all the usual how old are you and what are your hobbies type questions, but in every single class, without fail I would have a moment when the giggling started and I could see what was coming, one kid would be pushed to stand up and ask me, while staring at the ground and blushing profusely, whether I had a boyfriend. I suppose that they are just at that age when they become obsessed with the whole boy-girl thing. My favorite question came from one of the boys in my class, he stood up, looking very abashed and asked whether I though Chinese or English men were the more “handsome kind & loving.” It was obvious what the situation called for, “Chinese men” I had replied “are definitely the most handsome kind and loving.”
So apart from their intrusive interest into my romantic history “Have you ever held hands with a boy?”, their overall confusion with the very size of me “Is there a baby in your belly?” and the awkward questions about politics the kids so far are AMAZING, so well behaved you wouldn’t believe. When I found out the class sizes here are hitting around 50 and I would be teaching independently I was a little concerned, but the children have such a lot of respect for their teachers. I think as well they want to be liked by their new foreign teacher, in my school there are 3,000 kids and I am the only foreign teacher so the 200ish children I teach are supposedly the lucky ones as they get the opportunity to practice their English with a native speaker. I try to make myself available to chat at break times to the kids, I have had more conversations this week about Twilight and Taylor Swift than I’m happy with but its nice to be able to speak with the children. I am quite pleased actually now to be teaching older children as I get more of an opportunity to speak with them than I would of with primary age kids whose English is less developed.

By Jessica Ball

Daniel Légère is enrolled in the long-term paid teaching programme and will start work in China in February 2013.
He’s been reading up about teaching methods, and has submitted this blog post.

TEACHING METHODS–A Lesson for Teacher: Teaching Starts with the Students

Once the initial excitement of applying for my February TEIC programme had begun to wear off, the first question that came to mind was: ‘if I were a Chinese student, why would I be learning English?’ Two weeks later this question had become one of many; my page of important pointers had become 17 pages of incomprehensible notes, and for a moment I thought it might be easier to settle for a job on a tuna boat (but hey where’s the fun in that?) I’m writing this blog entry to share with the TEIC community some of the insights that have really struck me whilst looking into the motivations and expectations of English learners in China.

As a disclaimer, yes it’s impossible to generalise, and student needs are changing all the time. I’m not an experienced teacher so feedback from readers would be very welcome and valuable, for myself and hopefully interested others. Also keep in mind I am addressing more mature students, say adolescent onwards. With that said…

One of the first realisations that struck me was that some students don’t study English to, well…learn to speak English. I recalled having studied a GCSE in French- my speaking skills were awful (now all I can say is ‘petits filous’). There’s an issue in China known as ‘mute English’ (哑巴英语) which is a term that was derived to address the issue that, simply put, there is a large body of Chinese students who have a good grasp of the nuts and bolts of the English language, but who are unable to hold a coherent conversation (Liao & Wolff, 2009).

How could this be? Well let’s consider the context. There is a strong imperative to learn English in China; if you want to get into a top university, and to secure a prestigious job, you need to be well acquainted with English (Chen, 2005). Those of you who have taught or lived in China will probably have heard of the Gaokao University entrance exam (高考). This exam constitutes a major make-or-break point for students and their futures. Various studies (Chen, 2005; Rao, 2001; Wang, 2010) argue that the need to pass such exams is a major motivator behind language acquisition. If one considers that exams are often designed in such a way that speaking and spontaneous problem solving with language are perhaps neglected, the source of this ‘mute english’ syndrome becomes clear.

The reason for bringing this up isn’t to argue for reform. It’s to acknowledge that there may be students that are learning English because they have to; because their parents demand it, and access to a secure future places that requirement upon them.

I became confused. It’s a paradox isn’t it? I’m a native English speaker, and the value I bring to the classroom is for the most part the depth of my knowledge of the spoken language (in my case). Zhenhui Rao provides a great summary of the issue:

Although Chinese students are becoming more and more aware of the importance of communicative competence, students in universities and secondary schools still pay more attention to grammar than to communicative competence because all the language tests are grammar-based. (2001 p.95)

I want to employ modern communicative learning techniques; I want to introduce group work, role-plays, problem solving, and pronunciation games. In my mind getting their mouths moving was the priority! This leads me to the main point of this post: as teachers, we need to find a middle ground which enables students to fulfill their need to pass their English exams, whilst also aiming to foster the confidence and desire to actually use the language in the real world. There may be students that are quite content to learn English vocabulary and grammar via the old rote-learning methods. There may be students that want to leave China to study abroad, who from day one throw themselves in and get involved. All of these needs collide in the classroom. If I go ahead and try to employ the latest (Western-centric) teaching methods and do-away with the traditional methods (the same methods which worked so well for acquiring the students’ mother tongue), then wouldn’t I risk frustrating some students? How can I tackle this problem?

I begin teaching in February. No matter how many books I read, there will be no way of knowing if my suspicions are correct until I get there, and get thrown head first into a world of disorientation and laughs (at my expense). I don’t even know what name to adopt (Dan translates to egg or kidney depending on the tone- who’s going to take ‘Teacher Egg’ seriously?). Time will tell.

Good luck to everyone beginning with me in February 2013!
Dan

There is a lot more I wished to share. I really recommend having a read of the following studies, which I referred to in this post.

Chen, J., 2005. Motivators That Do Not Motivate: The Case of Chinese EFL Learners and the Influence of Culture on Motivation. TESOL Quarterly. 39 (4) pp.609-634.
Available at: http://cwarden.org/warden/personalPage/papers/tesolQ.pdf.

Liao, Y. & Wolff, M., 2009. MUTE ENGLISH –The Latin of China. Sun Yat-sen University. Available at: http://chinaholisticenglish.org/articles/me-et.pdf.

Rao, Z., 2001. Chinese students’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activities in EFL classroom. System 30. (2002) pp.85-105. Available at: http://elechina.super-red.es/rao-2.pdf.

Thorp, D., 1991. Confused encounters: differing expectations in the EAP classroom. ELT Journal 45 (2). pp.108-118. Available at: http://203.72.145.166/ELT/files/45-2-2.pdf

Wang. Y., 2010. A Survey of the Foreign Language Learning Motivation among Polytechnic Students in China. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 605-613.
Available at: http://www.academypublisher.com/jltr/vol01/no05/jltr0105.pdf.

By Daniel Légère

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.

Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about his last lesson in China.

Last lesson in China

‘What are you drawing?’- I asked my student as she hurriedly tried to cover up the piece of paper on the desk in front of her and pretend that she hadn’t been drawing anything and had of course been writing down what I’d asked the class to do.
She looked straight ahead, clearly afraid I was about to kick off at her, as I imagine her regular teacher perhaps would have. I was only here for the summer and I was not even much older than the kids in my class and despite having taught this class for almost a month, they had still to realise that I was never going to shout at any of them. Old habits die hard as they say and years in the Chinese school system were not going to be easily unconditioned and the whole class was now in a deadly silence, waiting for the teacher to speak.
‘Can I have a look at the drawing?’- I asked her and she continued to look straight ahead, apparently frozen in paralysis. I wondered if I really was this terrifying and began thinking that I’d somehow inadvertently been a horrific teacher to these students. As I stood there, bewilderingly confused by the atmosphere of the Chinese classroom (and not for the first time!), the girl uncovered the piece of paper. I picked it up and to my surprise staring back at me was my own likeness.
‘It’s for you teacher. Because you are leaving us soon’- the girl told me nervously. I was now incredibly bemused. In big writing across the top she’d written ‘Happy Everyday!’ and now that she’d shown me the rest of the class wanted to see too. ‘It’s not finished’- she said, and so I gave it back and told her to work on it. ‘I’ll give it to you next lesson’- she said, now happily. The next lesson was our last lesson and the students’ last lesson before they could go home.
My ego was soaring. I must have been a good teacher, and not some terrifying Western monstrosity that had taken over their classroom for a few weeks. I was even having drawings made of me and not the crude type I remember drawing of my own teachers when I was in school. The students were genuinely sad that I was leaving and that appreciation made it all worthwhile.
My last day at the school was a haze of flash photography and autograph signing. It was the closest I’d ever felt to being a celebrity. All the students wanted a memorable photo to remind them of ‘Teacher’. They wanted to keep in contact and I was forced into creating a ‘QQ’ account, the Chinese equivalent of MSN Messenger to keep them all happy. I’d told them we could have whatever sort of lesson they wanted, so a few games were played, including a chaotic variant of classroom dodgeball, but to my pleasant surprise the students genuinely just wanted to keep learning, even on the last day of school in the sweltering humidity. They had endless questions, about me, about England, about University, about everything. The curiosity was unending and even as the last bell rang I was still surrounded and questioned to the last second, before they dragged themselves away, sad to be parting.
I was awkwardly presented with the odd gift too. The completed drawing was proudly presented to me, as were postcards and hand written notes, thanking me for teaching them English. I know that I was somewhat of a novelty and a huge change from their usual teaching patterns, but the level of appreciation was still unexpected. And aside from this, the students thirst for more knowledge right to the last day was, to say the least, impressive. I cleaned the blackboard and turned off the lights for the last time before I left the classroom, thinking that all the kids I’d taught during the summer had the appetite and the opportunity to make it to University and to bigger things. I was left wondering where my own resolve and work ethic had disappeared to and knew I would have to try harder during my second year of University- to put it bluntly the Chinese student’s determination had inspired me and I was glad of it.
The next day myself and the English teachers left the school and at the bus station were confronted with more students, leaving for their hometowns, in all directions and far afield, to spend the rest of the summer with their families. As I waited for my bus I happily chatted away one last time to the students, keen to answer all the questions they fired towards me as they seized the last opportunity to practice English with a native speaker.

By Richard Collett

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.

Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about the work ethic of Chinese students.

Student Tigers
No one loves to complain more than overworked, tired, teenage students nearing the end of the school year do and no one feels they have more right to complain. At least perhaps in England anyway. But my Chinese students had surprised me. They were nearing the end of the year- and the Chinese school year is by all accounts a long one- they woke up every day at 5am to start lessons by 6am and barely finished their homework by 10pm before going back to their cramped dorms for another sweltering, humid, tropical summer’s night. And this was their summer holiday. These were extra classes at the end of their regular school year, to prepare these students for what would be the final year of their schooling. Admittedly, the final year was the year that decided, all importantly, if they would or would not be attending University, but surprisingly, I had had not one complaint from my classes in the two weeks I’d been teaching them.
The students were clearly tired, and the odd student would fall asleep at the back of the class at the end of the day, to snap awake moments later and sheepishly look around embarrassed and hoping I hadn’t noticed. If my teaching bored them, they never showed it. They clung on to my every word, furiously scribbling down anything that could help give them the upper hand in the English Language exams that could decide if they would be able to study abroad or not.
I began to wonder how they managed such constantly gruelling schedules. Each day the new class were ready to go, keen and enthusiastic, waiting to be taught and knowing they wouldn’t have a day off for two weeks at a time. For them it was non-stop and I began to question their sanity and become curious as to how these youngsters managed to keep going, with an overbearing workload, and not once let their respect for the teacher slip and complain about a topic I was teaching, or tell me the work was too easy or too hard, or that they had too much homework that day or wanted a break. The tiredness was there, underneath the unremitting and frankly impressive amount of effort and hard work they all put in daily. The odd question about their other teachers or the food in the canteen would produce the occasional frank answer that was quickly hushed up, but they seemed to never question their position of punishing amount of work.
So I decided, for good or bad, to teach each class a lesson about ranting. This was new for them. It amounted to criticism and I wasn’t sure if it would go down well or if they would even feel able to confidently express their thoughts in front of me, but when it got too much, half way through my lessons, and the students started to look more tired and annoyed at spending their summer holiday in a stuffy classroom, I decided there was nothing these kids needed more than a good old fashioned rant.
I learnt more in this lesson, about the students and their school system than they’d ever told me before.
At first, with such an alien concept as their teacher actively telling them to say whatever they felt about the school and their lives in general, there was simply a nervous quiet. I went for it and had my own rant, getting a lot of laughs and agreement when I told them I didn’t like the food in the canteen or that it was too hot at night and soon enough they were smiling happily away as they penned their anger and annoyances down on paper and then told the rest of the class.
I began to wonder even more, just how these teenagers managed to cope with the workloads and the lifestyle they had in their school days. The early starts and long days, the cramped dorm rooms they shared in the brutal summer heat, the compulsory exercise each day- two laps around the school before dinner- and sparse days off and little free time.
‘This used to be our summer’- one of my students perked up. It was a world away from my days as a sixth form student in England. For starters, we didn’t have our summer taken up with extra schooling and preparation or have such long days and of course, complaining about being at school was expected of a student. Their whole lives were devoted to these last two years of their school life. It was relentless and I couldn’t imagine being in their position. They had no free time and what little free time they did have was generally taken up with more homework. To play basketball some of the boys said they had to miss dinner or lunch. I was amazed at the student’s resilience and their ambitions, either because of the system or in spite of it. They wanted to be lawyers, doctors, artists and writers, but they also needed a break, that much was clear. They ranted their hearts out to me, and I realised the level of pressure on their shoulders, from the family and the school, was exceptional and there was very little they could do about it, except get on with it.
They certainly inspired me to try harder and quit complaining and their ambitions and hard work made an indelible impression on me and in some ways I felt that the students gave the teacher more than I could teach them in return and in many ways it was a defining moment of my summer of teaching English in China.

By Richard Collett

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.

Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about his trip to Hangzhou’s West Lake.

Hangzhou- In the footsteps of Marco Polo
Hangzhou, one of the ancient capitals of China, is a blinding mix of tradition and modernity. Skyscrapers and office blocks rise alongside ancient pagodas on old cobbled streets, while businessmen hail taxis amidst the bustle of vendors selling their wares and goods, as they have done for centuries. The city has been raised to the ground and been built again from the rubble, has seen Empires forged and crushed around it and survived the enduring march of Chinese history in one shape or another as it thrives on the legends of its natural and serene beauty. And throughout the centuries the tourists have flocked to this city.

THE WEST LAKE
In the 13th Century the renowned Venetian explorer Marco Polo described Hangzhou as ‘The City of Heaven, the most beautiful and magnificent in the world’. As I headed towards the city’s fabled ‘West Lake’ I failed to see much magnificence amongst this sprawling mega-city, as the roads clogged up with traffic, smog filled the air and rain lashed down upon me. The tourists were conspicuous as I made my way through the bustling streets. The centuries had yet to diminish their numbers, as bus load after busload dropped off their passengers, an endless cycle of people, mostly wearing the sun hats and t-shirts of their chosen tour company and being rushed along by their guides, screaming at them through headsets as I slowly neared the lake.
Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang province, in Eastern China, a few hundred miles south of Shanghai, but only an hour away on the high speed rail link and it’s a popular destination. It was August and the rain seemed to never end, but the tropical humidity was stiflingly nauseous. Today there was only drizzle and my students had repeatedly told me I needed to go to the city’s ‘West Lake’. They boasted of its beauty, in the same manner as Marco Polo, but at the same time I wondered how much of that beauty could be left amongst this urban expansion, or if the streams of tourists would even leave any room for appreciation of what could be left.
But abruptly I was shaken out of my misgivings and negativity as, suddenly, the streets parted to make way for what was truly a magnificent spectacle. The high rises ended, the neon lights of the countless advertisements stopped flashing and before me the mists descended upon a spectacularly vast body of crisp, gentle, clear water.

The modernity of China was suddenly halted, as if someone had drawn a line through time. On one side business went on as usual, but here I was in a place that had changed little over a thousand years and I imagined myself having the same reaction as a tourist from the Song dynasty two centuries before as I took in the grandeur of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Then modern China came crashing past, in the shape of a noisy, rampant tour group that the Chinese seem to be so fond of. It couldn’t ruin the scene though. This was China- love it or hate it, a mixture of polar opposites, ying and yang struggling for supremacy in the changing world.
The tour group were ushered onto a colourful barge, but myself and the teachers who’d accompanied me decided to forgo this barge and instead sought out a young boatwoman by the water’s edge to take us out on the lake.
The mist wrapped itself over and around the water and stretched across the vast expanse of water. The lake is 7km squared and I couldn’t see the other shore. The mountains and Hangzhou’s rolling, green hills spread out from the city and wrapped around it, while all along the lake’s edge were dotted pagodas and temples and on the water, ferries and boats, some motor powered, some pulled by oar, cut their way through the lake.
After haggling with the boat woman, in true Asian style, we clambered aboard her rickety wooden vessel. We hadn’t realised she did not have a motor boat, but was going to row us. She pushed us out before we could express our fear that she wasn’t up to the task of rowing five Westerners through the rain for an hour and to my surprise effortlessly powered us through the ripples. She earned a generous tip for her efforts, as she rowed through the inlets, under bridges and round the small islands that dot the lake.

Leaving the serenity of the lake, we were confronted once again with bustle of Hangzhou. Taxis screeched along, as locals clamoured through each other to hail them down and a new bus load of tourists jumped down from their coach. Spotting our group, some of them hurried over excitedly and began motioning that they wanted a picture with us all. I shrugged and obliged, with the lake behind me offering a great backdrop to what was, in Marco Polo’s words, a truly magnificent place.

By Richard Collett

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.

Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about the day he met his students.

‘Do You Have a Girlfriend?’- A First Day in the Chinese Classroom

‘Do you have a girlfriend sir?’- the whole class of 30 students started giggling shyly as a girl at the front of the room put her hand up and asked me this unexpectedly forward question as I entered the classroom on my first day of teaching at my new school.
I was thrown, not sure if the students genuinely wanted to know, if the girls were looking for a husband (God help me!) or if the class were somehow testing me on our first meeting. The girl who had asked the question had quickly sat down, only to keep glancing up as my answer was eagerly awaited by all in the room. After the initial nervous giggling the class had quietened down immeasurably, the majority of bout in China you
often leaaround them, as an air of potential embarrassment pervaded the room.
I realised then how shy these 16 year olds were even just being in front of me. I wasn’t being tested, they weren’t seeing if they could stretch their new teacher and embarrass me, no, they were genuinely interested in what I had to say to them and one lone student, perhaps spurred by her classmates, had plucked up the courage to ask me what they all wanted to know! The Chinese can be incredibly forward. It’s not rudeness, as it would be perceived amongst Westerners, but a relish to learn more about you, to learn about this strange foreigner. This can be hard to understand when you stroll into your first classroom and are presented with an inquisition of personal questions on your first day, but I tried to take it all in my stride, as best I could.
So I told the class, ‘No’, I didn’t have a girlfriend. The girls giggled, the guys perhaps jeered a little, or just didn’t know how to react, but the ice was not just broken, but crushed in the sweltering heat of the Hangzhou summer. The class went from nervous and shy to animated and welcoming. I introduced myself, and found the students hanging onto my every word. It was for many, the first time they’d seen a foreigner and certainly the first time they’d had the chance to practice speaking English with a native speaker. Until this point in their education, they’d only ever been taught by their Chinese teachers.
I wanted to get them all talking, and after being taken aback by the first question of the morning, I was slightly intrigued as to what else they wanted to know about me, the Westerner in their classroom. I was determined to actually teach them over the course of my stay at the school, but I thought it apt for the first lesson, to get these shy, young students up and talking, to let them ask me anything they wanted. It was question time, and there was to be no question left unasked.
I’d been thrown in at the sharp end by the school. I’d taught a few classes to younger children before being sent to this senior school, but I’d been given little direction as to what to teach here. I was left with the impression that it was simply my job, as a summer school teacher, to converse and practice with the students and so had a lot of free reign as to planning and teaching. But of course going into my first lesson, with a vague plan of an ‘introduction lesson’, I was nervous. How would the class react to me? Would I be interesting enough? Could I keep control? How assertive should I be? The questions I posed myself were endless, but in a way, they all answered themselves when I walked into that first classroom.
The questions came quick and fast, and I asked each student in turn my own questions too. As a first ‘lesson’ it was unashamedly informal, but I felt that I’d given my students, who I would be teaching for a good few weeks to come, an insight into me and that I had learnt something about them. They would know where they stood and how far I would push them and how far they could push me, and despite the embarrassing questions- ‘what do you think of Chinese girls?’, ‘Do you prefer Western or Chinese girls?’- and the inevitable questions about my height (6ft 4”) there were also more welcoming questions about English culture, the differences between our two countries and what I would be able to teach them over the summer. Their questions were simply the pursuit of knowledge and I was left indelibly impressed. I felt that I would go into my next lessons in a confident position, and more importantly with a class of students that wanted to learn from me and were interested in what I had to say. That would make things a lot easier. They would always be shy speaking English in front a towering native speaker but I was determined to help them as much as I could. That was my job after all.
I felt my first class had been a resounding success. I hoped the five more classes that I had to teach that day would be just as successful!

By Richard Collett

PLACES TO SOCIALIZE IN CHINA–Mai’s Coffee House in Wuhan.

Kate Puttick works in Wuhan and she enjoys socializing and volunteering at Mai’s Coffee House.

“Mr Mai’s is a coffee house and foreign language club run by an American called David (who everybody calls Mr Mai) He has lived in China for ten years and is currently studying at one of the many universities in Wuhan, although I can’t remember which one. They sell different kinds of coffee and tea and it’s much cheaper than Starbucks. They also sell Western treats like cookies, brownies and cupcakes. The idea is that you get a drink, sit at a table and anybody can talk to you. I first went there by accident, thinking it was just a Western Cafe, but am so glad that I did now. It’s basically a fun environment where Chinese students can practice their English. However, it’s not just English majors who go. I have met many interesting people, some who aren’t even students.

You can ‘volunteer’ there, which is what I’ve done since Feb. They ask you to do two hours a week and you get a free hot drink and discounted snacks. It is fun to new friends and they are often very curious about your life at home. Others will be preparing for English tests and will want your help with practise questions. I have one friend who recently took his TOEFL exam and scored 110 out of 120, gaining full marks on the writing section that we had practised. I am very proud of him! There is also the option to buy a membership card for the year, to save paying the membership fee every time you enter. This was 300 yuan for the year and allows you to bring up to three other people for free. The best thing about it for me is being able to have a proper conversation with students around your own age. I really love primary school but having to answer ‘what is your telephone number?’ fifty times a day can get a bit tedious!”

The website for Mr Mai’s is http://mrmai.com/ The address is YinHaiYaYuan 1F, Guangba Lu, Hongshan District, Wuhan. It’s next to the Chlitina Hairdressing Chamber.

By Kate Puttick

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.
Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about having a meal and drinks with Chinese friends.

DINNER IN CHINA–A VERITABLE FEAST
‘Pejio!’- my Chinese friend shouted out as he stood up and beckoned towards the waitress. I felt sorry for her as she shuffled out the room, clearly intimidated by the loud, rude table of people which had just entered the private dining room of her restaurant. I let my Western sensibilities slide, as I was beginning to understand, even after only a few days in China, that manners were different here. Politeness was generally seen as a bizarre trait to possess in given circumstances. Respect went in abundance, but bluntness, which would be considered rudeness in the West, was as common here as bowls of rice for breakfast.
I’d asked for a ‘Pejio’, a beer, and to my amazement not one was brought out but an entire crate. I’d apparently ordered drinks for the whole table of twelve. Myself and the three other English teachers from the school were being treated to a meal in the local town by our Chinese friends and from the start it seemed that the meal was to be drowned in drinks.
I started drinking from a bottle of beer, but was given a small glass, perhaps the size of two shots and beer was then poured in for me. Everyone else had done the same and then my friend who’d ordered the beer smiled and shouted ‘Ganbei!’ before everyone began clinking glasses and drinking- quickly.
At first I thought ‘Ganbei’ was simply cheers, a toast before the meal started, but when I clinked bottles with the guy sat next me and said ‘ganbei’ he looked at me, shocked, clinked my bottle with his, and then began drinking. I was soon made to down my entire bottle with him, as I’d in fact initiated this drink off, unwittingly. I learnt too late that ‘ganbei’, far from being a nice cheers, translates as ‘empty glass’, or ‘dry glass’. The table were clearly impressed by the recklessness of my toasts as, to the bewilderment of my fellow teachers, everyone began to ‘ganbei’ and down everything in sight. I caught my English teacher friend’s eye across the table and got a bemused smirk- for a formal dinner, we were clearly going to be indulging in more than just polite conversation. The food had yet to be ordered as a second crate of ‘pejio’ was rushed into the room.
With the mood decidedly jovial, and the locals clearly amused rather than insulted by any cultural confusions- as I’d feared before the meal could happen- I felt confident enough when the food began to arrive to indulge in the use of chopsticks, despite assurances that forks could be found. A bowl of steaming noodles was placed on the table, right in front of me, and I put all my years experience of messing around with chopsticks in the local Chinese back home to good use and even applause as I guided a portion onto the small plate in front of me.
As is usual in China, the table we were dining at was round, with a revolving centre piece that allowed all the food to be shared communally. The food never seemed to end, as plate after plate were brought out, everyone helping themselves and each other to what took their fancy- huge plates piled with steaming vegetables, an entire grilled fish, freshly caught from the nearby lake, dumplings, spring rolls and noodles. I was astounded by the generosity of our hosts- they kept assuring us the bill was on the9s impossible to generalise, a was kept flowing.
Trying to impress their Western guests, the dishes became more estranged from Western tastes. Not everything could be translated properly and so I was not always entirely aware of what I was eating, but after several ‘ganbeis’ I was willing to try it all- it’s not every day you’re treated to a Chinese buffet. Boiled jellyfish, was expectedly rubbery in texture but to my surprise, delicious, while snake I was told was a delicacy, saved for special occasions – I could taste why, it was also delicious. The chicken feet were devoured by the Chinese, but myself and the other teachers looked on them slightly warily. The caution proved warranted, there was simply nothing to them.
The array of food and the variety of the food made the buffet a veritable feast of gourmet culture for us. It just didn’t do to not try everything and if we didn’t like something our hosts would simply get us to try something else instead. It was a first class display of China’s culinary prowess and a master class in Chinese table manners and drinking etiquette. As the food was eaten, the drinks flowed and the room filled with cigarette smoke, as there are no qualms when it comes to smoking and eating. The buffet was rounded off with a fiery display of rice wine downing and hearty toasts to China, Britain, alcohol and good food.

By Richard Collett

Richard Collett worked as a summer intern in Hangzhou during the summer of 2011.
Over the coming weeks he’ll share some of his experiences, about topics such as: what’s a first day in China’s like, Chinese food, teaching, a night out and reverse culture shock.

Today’s post is about his first day in China.

‘Unexpected Events’- A First Day in China
7am. A loud knocking on the hotel room door. I stir from my short slumber and slowly remember that I’m in China. The knocking means it’s time to wake up.
I hazily go to the door and in charges a woman I’ve never seen before. ‘Time to get up! Long day ahead!’ She was slightly too cheery for the early hour it was, but I forced a smile and said good morning.
I had only arrived in the country late the previous evening and had been chauffeured from the airport to a hotel room by Toni, who said he worked for ‘the company’, as he called the teaching company that I was working through. He himself wasn’t a teacher and his English left a lot to be desired, while my Chinese- to my embarrassment- perpetually left even more to be desired.
I managed to establish over the car journey that Toni was a fan of Arsenal football club, but where I was heading, when I would be teaching or who I would be teaching, he didn’t know- or he didn’t understand the questions. I was completely in the dark. Where I was exactly I couldn’t say. All I knew was that I was somewhere in Hangzhou, a city in Zhejiang Province, an hour south of Shanghai on the high speed train link and that this was to be the start of what was clearly going to be an interesting experience. I could tell I would be spending a lot of time out of my comfort zone. That was all I was certain of.
The woman who’d burst her way into the peaceful serenity of my jetlag induced sleep told me to get ready and to meet her downstairs for breakfast. I tried to find out what I was to be doing, who I would be teaching, even simply where I would be teaching, as I had from Toni the night before, but she said not to worry and that I would ‘meet lots of people!’- ‘It will be a long day!’
Perplexed, in a torrent of confusion, I got ready- but ready for what I did not know. I assumed an induction, or perhaps a meeting with some directors or an orientation to set me up for the month or so of teaching ahead of me. At the very least I hoped to be given some sort of plan- to be put in the loop.
But China proved early on to be the antithesis of the unrelenting and controlled order I’d somewhat expected of it. For the rest of my time in the country it would be equally, sometimes frustratingly unclear what was expected of me, or where I was to be going next. But I soon leant as well that it wasn’t the fault of the Chinese teachers who I tried to get information out of- they also didn’t know. So I learnt to be patient, adaptable and prepared for the inevitable confusion. It all became part of the job, but at first it made the transition from student to teacher undoubtedly daunting, nerve wracking and challenging.
On my first day I was, quite simply, not expecting let alone prepared for, the atmosphere I was to be mercilessly thrust into.
I was whisked off from the breakfast room, satisfied with a meal of delicious dumplings and pastries. One of the reasons I love travelling is for the food -China certainly never failed to disappoint and got off to great start here too. The hotel was crowded with children and teachers, and the next day I found out that lessons were being taught here, as part of a summer camp. I found this out when I was told the next morning I was going to lead those lessons- and those lessons would start in an hour. For now I was taken to a school down the road, watching out of the window as people in the streets played out their early morning routines. I was tired, but I was taking everything in around me, taking in all of this new country, this new city and this new culture as we passed cyclists and motorcycles piled high with goods for the markets and the shops on the streets opened up and people bought daily papers or sat down for their breakfasts.
‘We are here’- Toni suddenly broke the silence and I realised we’d stopped. He ushered me out of the car and a teacher came over and led me into the school. A student helper came over, said his English name was Jimmy and then told me that it was these students last day of their summer school and that I would be giving them certificates in the assembly that was just starting. Then he said they would sing an English song and I would have to lead it.
I must have looked terrified at the prospect. I’m not really one for karaoke and I hadn’t thought I’d be expected to sing! ‘No worry!’ said Jimmy in response to my bemusement and horror. ‘They will love you!’
He wasn’t wrong. Nervously entering the assembly, I found myself being stared at by at least 150 children, teachers and student helpers who stood up and began clapping. Some of the children were even cheering. Apparently I was a celebrity. I’d heard that English teachers were given great respect in China and been warned that I could be treated as a bit of a novelty in some places, as foreigners can be rare, but this was utterly bewildering. I had only entered the room and the excitement and enthusiasm of the young children had completely disarmed me. When it came for my turn to lead a song, ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, I thought- now I’m really in it, and quietly sang along while the children screamed out the words as loud as they could, every single person in the room looking at me, more aware of myself than I’d ever been.
I then spent the day being paraded around the classrooms of the summer school, not teaching, simply introducing myself and talking with the kids on their last day. The shock soon disappeared, as I chatted away, and my status went to my head as I signed autographs and answered questions.
The day’s events had been entirely unexpected, but then again, I can’t say that I’d really had any expectations in the first place. I didn’t know what to expect. My first day in China had been confusing, embarrassing at times, but immensely enjoyable as I realised that I had to get on with and deal with whatever was thrown my way. I told myself I’d immerse myself in China for the next few weeks, and make the most of what I was certain would be an incredible opportunity and experience.

By Richard Collett